


First Day of the Rest of Your Life

by Ruuger



Category: The Mentalist
Genre: Gen, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-10
Updated: 2013-09-10
Packaged: 2017-12-26 05:37:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/962223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruuger/pseuds/Ruuger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hightower gets the promotion nobody wanted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Day of the Rest of Your Life

"Don't think of it as a punishment," the Director says with a pleasant smile. "Think of it as an opportunity. Running the CBI is a challenge, and one that I believe you're perfectly suited for."

She can see Assistant Director Bertram hovering by the Director's shoulder like a vulture, vying for a better seat in the boys' club house. Rumour has it that the Director is looking for early retirement, and good old Bertram is the next one in line. Bertram meets her eyes and gives her a smile that doesn't reach his eyes. He's the one behind this, she's certain of it, and he's deliberately setting her up for a fall. Her supervisor never mentioned by name who'd told him about her "indiscretion", as he'd called it, but there had been only two people besides herself who knew about her and Rance, and Bertram was the one of them that she hadn't been sleeping with. 

The Director is still smiling, and she wonders if he has actually managed to convince himself that he's doing her a favour. "And if you succeed in reigning in some of the more, ahem, controversial elements of the Bureau, I'm sure we can all put your past... indiscretions behind us."

The word 'uppity' never leaves his lips but she can hear it anyway. 

"Thank you, sir," she says, swallowing the 'fuck you' she wants to throw at his face. "I'll do my best."

* * *

After the meeting is over, she finds herself sitting on a bench in front of the building, staring at the papers in her lap. In the past, it would have been a promotion, a plum assignment that she knows she would never have been even considered for, no matter her credentials. But there are two words on the topmost paper that make any Senior Agent interested in saving their career scramble for safety: 

Patrick Jane. 

She's heard rumours that the man has his own filing cabinet in Legal. 

She's roused from her thoughts by a quiet beep from her purse, and she takes out her phone. There's a notification blinking on the screen, indicating a received message, and she can feel her blood pressure rising as soon as she sees her husband's name in the sender field. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before clicking 'Open'.

_Have to cancel tonight. Working late._

"Bastard," she swears under her breath, stifling the urge to throw the phone at the nearest tree. The lie is so obvious she knows he wants her to see through it. She knows she shouldn't feel jealous, not when she's done the same to him, but it still hurts, the knowledge that he's choosing his girlfriend over his family.

She waits until she no longer feels like screaming and then selects her home number on the speed dial. The phone rings three times before Mimi answers.

"Hi, sweetie, it's Mom. How about we go and to the movies, just the three of us. Yes, I know your father said he'd take you, but he's busy at work and asked me to go instead."

* * *

She leaves the movie theater thinking that Tiana should have just let Naveen remain a frog, because she's come to the conclusion that men are far more trouble than they're worth.

* * *

That night, as she lies alone in bed, she thinks about Rance for the first time in months.

It was never love between them, barely even lust. She'd been unhappy, and he'd been there. Convenient. First just to listen, and then, one night, for more. He'd been gentle and kind, and he'd made her smile when she'd thought that she could never trust another man again.

She never loved him, not the way she loved her husband, but she knows she will still miss him.

* * *

The next morning, the papers are waiting for her at her desk. She stares at them for a moment, and then makes up her mind, and picks up the phone. 

"Could you bring me the files on Patrick Jane. Yes, all of them."

When the clerk from Community Outreach arrives ten minutes later with the first box, she settles back on her chair and begins to read.

It's a game, nothing more. And she's going to find a way to win it.


End file.
